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Jiyu (Fukutsu no Seishin)
"If a tale does not survive, what purpose did it ever hold?" Background Jiyu was born within the clan. The first hatchling to grace them for a long time, he was doted upon and spoiled by the clan’s resident nanny, Nikko. It was perhaps a good thing that, like her, he was Plague at heart, otherwise his fate may have been so very different. Stranded at the edge of the clan’s territory, he was driven out by the fierce mirror, hounded towards the beautifully grotesque landscape of the scarred wasteland, where he had no choice but to fight for his life, to prove his hardiness and mettle to the mirror, and himself. The land called to him, memories of long-passed dragons, ones that failed Nikko’s initiations, and others beside, victims of the Plaguebringer’s disappointment, unable to withstand her powers and the infestations that had long since developed, mutated, by themselves. While evading the games the mirror bestowed upon him, learning to survive in the harshest environments Sornieth had to offer and even thrive, he began to write. The piles of parchment he’d seen briefly back at the lair were out of his reach, so he had to make do with what he could scavenge from the land. To begin with it was rotting wood, or scraps left by the literate beastclans, but that was in short supply. The scarred wasteland was alive, writhing and crawling in a way unique to the influence of Plague, and inanimate objects were scarce at best. Corpses, though. Corpses were common, stumbled across on every path as yet another creature, be it beastclan, bird or even dragon, succumbed to and failed the test of life. Their hide made for passable parchment, improving as he experimented with different techniques to preserve and strengthen it. Ink was a precious commodity unavailable to him, so that, too, he experimented with, finding that blood, a plentiful resource in the wilderness, needed only a small mix with other compounds to make a reliable replacement. And so his records began, written in blood upon the hide of the defeated as he told their tales, called out to him by the land. Surviving became second nature to him, and soon the early mistakes he made were wiped from memory, lasting only as scars written on his skin. Some time into his project, Nikko pronounced herself satisfied with the now fully grown dragon. He had endured, survived and thrived, so it was with great delight that she retrieved him to live with the clan, where he settled in a large deep cavern, storing his writings carefully within and scribbling on the walls when his hide-parchment ran low. The librarian allowed only a few to enter his library, respectful of the knowledge but unnerved by the medium, but Jiyu had no complaints to make. His cave had space for far more writings yet. Personality Jiyu has a ‘waste not want not’ attitude to life, thanks to his perhaps questionable upbringing. He hoards scraps of hide wherever he finds it, and whenever he isn’t writing or gathering information he’s transforming the scraps into more parchment to use. While his quarters, and to a lesser extent his appearance, can feel morbidly inclined, the dragon himself is friendly, if a bit scatty or overly-focused, depending on the situation. Conversations are not hard to come by, even if he will gear them towards information gathering wherever possible and he is a very sociable dragon. He has no complaints about others invading his quarters at a whim, and welcomes perusal of his writings, for those that can stomach the medium. It is most important to him that the stories survive in the minds and hearts of dragonkind; he knows that material possessions cannot last forever. Role Within The Clan Within the clan, Jiyu has tasked himself with recording everything of note. One day he aims to have written a full chronicle of the clan, from its founding to its present form. As a young member, he is reliant on the accounts of the older dragons, and can be found spending much time in deep conversation with them as he wrings their brain for every last detail of whatever occasion they are reciting. Once his notes are made to his satisfaction, he will retreat to his cave to write them up properly, with a flourish worthy of such a powerful clan, as he sees them. To some, an Arcane clan having their history recorded in the flesh and blood of others may be unnerving, but Jiyu sees no issues and the clan as a whole share the opinion that the recording is more important than the medium. Particularly important events are copied out by the clan’s scribe onto a less disturbing medium to be stored in the library. Appearance Jiyu bears some scars and mutations from his time growing up in the scarred wasteland. The scars are mainly on his shoulder, long deep scratches from beastclan and dragon alike in the never-ending struggle for survival he was embroiled within. Some are self-inflicted; when he’s unable to find blood of the right quality for his ink he’ll use his own. These are hidden beneath the gauntlet on his arm - while not ashamed of them, per say, he has no interest in showing them off, either. Two green horns, similar in colour to the runes that litter his skin, are the only outward signs that at some point in his life he became a mutant. These are a symbol of his survival, and he dislikes covering them up. Abilities Magic Interested in the written word as he is, it’s unsurprising that Jiyu’s primary form of attack is based in runes. He’s also very attuned to what the land itself wants to tell him, although skeptics think he’s making it up, and even he cannot explain why he knows everything that he does. Maybe he’s slightly psychic. Melee While not his primary method, Jiyu is far from a stranger to physical contact and can cause serious damage with his teeth, claws and horns. His long-term survival in the scarred wasteland was not just due to an affinity with magic. Relationships Nikko In effect his surrogate mother, the clan nanny is almost entirely responsible for his upbringing (the only other responsibility lies with the clan that let her get away with such extreme rearing methods). He has a great deal of respect for the mirror, and no fear at all, despite her relentless ‘training’. She is one of the members of the clan he will seek out most often for conversation. Trivia * Jiyu (自由) is Japanese for freedom * Jiyu was hatched in celebration of the completion of TsarinaTorment's master's thesis Category:Scholar Category:Pearlcatcher Category:Male Category:Plague Dragon